Well, I'm crap with making opening posts for live discussions, but I had to start a thread to say that I'm looking forward to tonight's episode. As well as make a few mentions about the show and state some of my opinions on the current state of wrestling and WWE.
First thing I wanted to point out was WWE being re-named "WWE" instead of World Wrestling Entertainment. Like they did to the F(WWE, Get the "F" out) now their taking the wrestling out of the name.
The move doesn't really bother me, I just worry about the direction. Then again, the direction could be good. But censoring yourself with a PG format, I'm not sure how that's going to work. I'm not an Attitude Era fan boy, but I think by curbing yourself with a PG, your really restricting yourself creatively. Where would Michaelangelo's "David" statue be if the Renaissance Era had been PG? I know that was corny, but wrestling is an art form and I think the PG rating has taken some of the emotion out of the show. Or may be the writers and wrestler's feel they can not express themselves the same. It's not just the rating, a number of things have been banned under this PG policy. I thought the debut of Nexus was great, but I thought it was because they were so convincing and nothing like we were seeing on WWE. Daniel Bryan choking out Justin Taylor with the tie and spitting on Cena really helped elevate the moment. The same way Austin, covered in a crimson mask, going unconscious while locked in the Sharpshooter marked the beginning of the Stone Cold era.
Hulk Hogan was so popular, because you could feel the emotion. And he's probably been PG his entire career aside from his current TNA stint.
Anyway, If WWE is going to be PG, I think they need to be imaginative again. And for them to do that, their wrestler's are going to need to help them. I believe being imaginative is a key to making wrestling emotional and passionate once again.
Btw, did anyone else feel Vince was trying to take a page out of TNA's book?
He wants a company name without the word wrestling, ala TNA (Total Non-Stop Action) and he wants his company to be about entertainment, not wrestling. Well TNA is mostly about storylines and angles, on top of storylines and angles and there is rarely wrestling
. In my opinion, WWE is the wrestling company and TNA is the entertainment company. Does Vince want to become more like TNA? Heh.
As for tonight, I hope this is like a brand new season and we see the creation of new feuds and maybe we see some new (familiar) faces. Last weeks show I felt was really just capping off Mania, I hope tonight is a bit different.
I'm excited to see what Sin Cara does tonight. I wonder if he'll have a different outfit.
I don't think we'll be seeing Rock, Austin, Triple H, Taker (unless something was said on Smackdown, which I didn't see), or any Smackdown stars this Raw.
Anyway, if people have anything to say, I'll be around for live discussion
but if not, I'm just going to give like mini reviews on each segment/match, anyway.
First thing I wanted to point out was WWE being re-named "WWE" instead of World Wrestling Entertainment. Like they did to the F(WWE, Get the "F" out) now their taking the wrestling out of the name.
The move doesn't really bother me, I just worry about the direction. Then again, the direction could be good. But censoring yourself with a PG format, I'm not sure how that's going to work. I'm not an Attitude Era fan boy, but I think by curbing yourself with a PG, your really restricting yourself creatively. Where would Michaelangelo's "David" statue be if the Renaissance Era had been PG? I know that was corny, but wrestling is an art form and I think the PG rating has taken some of the emotion out of the show. Or may be the writers and wrestler's feel they can not express themselves the same. It's not just the rating, a number of things have been banned under this PG policy. I thought the debut of Nexus was great, but I thought it was because they were so convincing and nothing like we were seeing on WWE. Daniel Bryan choking out Justin Taylor with the tie and spitting on Cena really helped elevate the moment. The same way Austin, covered in a crimson mask, going unconscious while locked in the Sharpshooter marked the beginning of the Stone Cold era.
Hulk Hogan was so popular, because you could feel the emotion. And he's probably been PG his entire career aside from his current TNA stint.
Anyway, If WWE is going to be PG, I think they need to be imaginative again. And for them to do that, their wrestler's are going to need to help them. I believe being imaginative is a key to making wrestling emotional and passionate once again.
Btw, did anyone else feel Vince was trying to take a page out of TNA's book?
He wants a company name without the word wrestling, ala TNA (Total Non-Stop Action) and he wants his company to be about entertainment, not wrestling. Well TNA is mostly about storylines and angles, on top of storylines and angles and there is rarely wrestling

As for tonight, I hope this is like a brand new season and we see the creation of new feuds and maybe we see some new (familiar) faces. Last weeks show I felt was really just capping off Mania, I hope tonight is a bit different.
I'm excited to see what Sin Cara does tonight. I wonder if he'll have a different outfit.
I don't think we'll be seeing Rock, Austin, Triple H, Taker (unless something was said on Smackdown, which I didn't see), or any Smackdown stars this Raw.
Anyway, if people have anything to say, I'll be around for live discussion
but if not, I'm just going to give like mini reviews on each segment/match, anyway.